Govt to rope in mlas for Food Scheme success

Falling short of its target in identifying two lakh families to bring them under the ambit of Annshree Yojana, the food security scheme for vulnerable families, the Delhi government has decided to rope in MLAs to increase the number of beneficiaries.

Falling short of its target in identifying two lakh families to bring them under the ambit of Annshree Yojana, the food security scheme for vulnerable families, the Delhi government has decided to rope in MLAs to increase the number of beneficiaries.

The Sheila Dikshit cabinet on Monday agreed to give out 500 forms to each of the 70 MLAs to identify such families in their respective constituencies who can be brought under the ambit of the scheme.

The families, which do not get the three essential food commodities — wheat, sugar and rice — from the government’s fair-price shops under the public distribution system but have been categorised as vulnerable due to no permanent source of income, are eligible for R600 a month under the scheme.

While the government has fixed the target of two lakh families to cover under the Annshree Yojana, the Hindustan Times also reported on March 7 how the government has so far managed to cover less than 35,000 families under the scheme. Sources said the government might barely manage to touch the figure of 50,000.

Though the government initially worried that who will ensure that the families identified by the MLAs actually meet the criteria laid for this scheme, the chief minister later relented to their demand.

“The MLAs were asking for 2,000 forms each. But the cabinet has agreed to give only 500,” a senior official of the Delhi government official said.